The Case of the Disappearing Pants
by general zargon
Summary: and other assorted clothes . Someone is stealing Kain's clothes, and he's more than a little interested in finding out who, so when he gets a note telling him where to go if he wants to see his clothes again, he can't resist going to see what it's about.
1. Chapter 1

It was, Kain decided as he stood there staring into his half-full closet, quite possible that someone was stealing his clothes.

It had started with the disappearance of a pair of his socks. He had opened the drawer where he kept his socks and underwear to grab one of each before he went to take a shower and idly noted that it looked like there was one less pair than he had thought there was. He had shrugged it off, thinking that he had miscounted, and went to wash up before it was time for the Night Class crossover when they passed the mobs of Day Class girls (and boys) to get to their classes.

The next day, he noticed that one of the shirts he wore on school breaks was gone from his closet as he reached for his uniform jacket, and the day after that another pair of socks disappeared.

An article of clothing continued to disappear every night for the next two weeks after that, including three pairs of his underwear and his favorite shirt (black silk that flowed like water when you touched it and shimmered when the light hit it just right).

He had at first thought his cousin, Hanabusa Aido, was playing a prank on him, but a covert search of his roommate's part of the room turned up nothing (aside from a sketchbook that Kain made an effort to forget he'd ever found), sending him back to square one in regards to where all his clothes were disappearing to.

Now, he was staring into his closet, which was devoid of a full half of the shirts and pants that he owned, and he wondered if any of the other Night Class students were responsible.

Ruka he could rule out, since if anything she was more likely to steal Kaname's clothes than his, and ditto for Seiren.

Takuma wouldn't have been able to keep quiet about it for as long as the thefts had been going on, so he could strike the cheerful blond off his suspect list.

Senri would probably do it if Takuma asked him to, but again the blond vampire would have given the prank away long before then, so the model was also crossed off his mental list.

Rima wasn't a suspect just on sheer principle, since he hardly even talked to the female. Besides, she would be more likely to steal Senri's clothes.

There were other members of the Night Class, but he wasn't really acquainted with them, so they would have no reason to break into his room and steal his socks, underwear, break shirts, etc etc.

As for Kaname…no, just, no.

And that ruled out all of the possible suspects in the Moon Dorm….which only left someone from the Day Class as the culprit.

Looking at it from a different angle, Kain supposed it made sense. If someone from the Day Class managed to avoid Cross and Kiryuu and sneak into the Moon Dorm, it wouldn't be that hard for them to make off with an item of clothing. Why steal _his_, though, he hadn't the faintest idea. Honestly, he had the least amount of fan-girls (or boys) of the entire Night Class, and certainly none of them would have been able to pull off sneaking into the Night Class dormitory so many nights in a row without getting caught or giving themselves away by bragging to the other Day Class students.

Then again, maybe there was more than one thief? Shuddering, the red-headed vampire shoved that thought away, not wanting to contemplate why more than one person would steal his underwear.

As it was, he was seriously limited on what clothing he had left, and after heaving a sigh he reached for a pair of uniform pants. He supposed that he should be thankful that he had more than one uniform (the shirt for one of them had been stolen three days ago…).

To his surprise, when he returned alone from class that night, there was a note with his name on it taped to the door of his room (Hanabusa had been trying to stalk Yuki Cross, and Kaname had caught him. Kain had to take a moment of silence for his cousin.).

The note read, short and to the point:

"_Dear Wild-San,_

_If you ever want to see your clothes again, you will meet me by the pool at 12:30 am. Tonight._

_Signed, your admirer."_

Kain double-checked the meeting time, and saw that it was the time of the Night Class's break period…which was weird on so many levels. How long had this person been watching him that they knew when the Night Class had their 'lunch period' for lack of a better term?

Still, some of his favorite articles of clothing had been stolen, and he especially wanted his black silk shirt back, so…yeah, he was going to the meeting. He just hoped that the person who had stolen his clothes wasn't a crazed fan-girl...or fan-boy. He wasn't sure which one would be worse, actually.

The red-head shook his head with a sigh as he checked inside his closet idly.

Yup, his last pair of pants had been stolen, which meant that he would have to wear the pair he had on now for two nights in a row.

He hoped none of his classmates decided to take a good sniff of him at crossover the next day…

* * *

Kain stood in plain view beside the Cross Academy pool, shifting slightly from one foot to the other as he shot a glance down towards the watch on his wrist. 12:29. One minute to go, he thought with a sigh.

And, despite all the trouble the clothes-thief had caused him, he couldn't help being curious about who had snuck into the Moon Dorm so many times just to raid his drawers and closet (though the fact that whoever-they-were had taken his underwear still freaked him out).

He hunched his shoulders as a light breeze drifted by, bringing with it a slight chill.

Since his affinity was fire, he didn't have quite the cold resistance of his cousin, but on the plus side he never got overheated or sunburned (Ruka still hasn't forgiven him for that one summer the three of them spent in Italy. She had wound up looking like a lobster while he'd just gotten an attractive golden tan). The memory was always good for a few snickers or two on a slow day, but that was neither here nor there…even if things had gotten funnier when Ruka had started pealing.

Akatsuki glanced towards his watch again; intent on checking the time, but his attention was swiftly diverted when several shrubs, planted along the edge of the tile surrounding the pool, near him rustled. A frown graced his lips as his eyes narrowed, thanks to his vampire physiology he had no trouble seeing in the dark, especially since the moon was half-full that night.

What he saw confused him, as the shadow standing between two of the shrubs became clearer as the girl (it was clearly a girl, one of the Day Class if the uniform was any indication) carrying a large plastic bag approached.

Brown hair, brown eyes, and a slight build, he estimated she would barely come up to his chest if they stood toe-to-toe, he supposed she was cute enough…and he was abruptly forced to reevaluate his opinion when the Day Class girl got closer.

Her brown hair, cut into a sleek bob, shimmered with pale highlights where the moon struck it, turning it into the color of dark honey, and her brown eyes that seemed plain at first glance revealed much more upon a second look. And her slight build, Akatsuki noted in pleasant surprise, sported some very pleasing curves beneath her uniform.

A red eyebrow rose as he broke through the silence with the blunt sentence, "So, I take this means you're the one who keeps stealing my clothes." It really wasn't even a question, but the girl (didn't he know her from somewhere?) nodded anyway.

The girl took a few steps closer and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Yes, that was me. My apologies for any inconvenience." Something beneath her seemingly bland tone informed Kain that she was most definitely Not Sorry.

His lips twitched, and he returned blandly, "I see. You already know my name?" The girl nodded, and he continued, "Then may I have the pleasure of knowing yours? You did go through a lot of trouble to get me here, after all…" and broke more than a few rules while doing it, was what went unspoken but hovered between them.

The Day Class girl actually blushed, a faint tinge of pink appearing across her cheeks, and Kain's lips quirked up in amusement. The brunette quickly responded, trying to cover up her embarrassment, "I am Sayori Wakaba. A pleasure to meet you, Wild-San." She actually bowed!

Kain was definitely amused now, but he forced his mind back to why he was standing by a pool in the middle of the night. He let his eyes drift to the plastic bag Sayori was holding, and his voice was definitely amused as he asked, somewhat rhetorically, "I suppose that my missing clothes are in that bag?"

Sayori (and now he remembered where he had seen her, she was one of Yuki Cross's friends) nodded and held out the bag, but as he approached, reaching out with one hand to take it from her, she pulled it back and told him matter-of-factly, "You'll only get this back if you give me something in return."

Akatsuki blinked, his hand still extended though he slowly lowered it back to his side as he asked curiously, "And what do you want in exchange for the return of my clothes?"

A smirk flitted across the girl's lips as Sayori said blandly, "A kiss."

Kain blinked again, a dumbfounded look crossing his face, and his eyebrows climbed halfway to his hairline as he repeated, "A kiss."

Sayori nodded, "A kiss," she confirmed, her lips quirking up into a smile.

A few moments passed, before Kain shrugged and said, "Okay, a kiss it is then."

Before Sayori could do more than blink at Kain's easy acceptance, the Night Class student stepped up to close to her, putting her nose a few inches away from his chest, which as always was slightly bared because of his partially buttoned shirt. A deeper blush bloomed across her face, and her lips parted slightly to draw in a deeper breath of air, but then Kain place his hand gently under her jaw and tilted her head back.

He smiled when he heard her heart rate increase, the organ now racing as he bent over to bring his face closer to hers. His heart joined hers in pounding out an increased rhythm, and his lips quirked up a minute before they met the brunette's in a light kiss.

Kain's lips just barely brushed Sayori's, but it somehow seemed incredibly intimate as their breath mingled together, seconds before the red head deepened the kiss, bringing them into even closer contact.

They both felt like a lightning bolt shot through them at the greater contact, and Sayori gasped lightly in surprise, which gave Akatsuki the opportunity to slant his mouth over hers, deepening the contact and quietly slipping his tongue out to trace over her lips.

Both of them shuddered at the sensations, and Kain quietly took a breath, getting a good dose of Sayori's natural scent, uncovered by any scented lotions or shampoos. Somehow, that appealed to him a lot more than it should have…

Sayori smelled like oranges and daisies, a combination that he immediately loved, and he dazedly pulled back from the kiss when he started to run out of breath. He was panting as he stared into Sayori's brown eyes, which were glazed from the emotions stirred by the kiss, a look he had no doubt was matched by the look in his own eyes.

Almost as if he was in a daze, he bent and wrapped his arms around the Day Class girl's waist lifting her effortlessly so that they were eye level before he kissed her again, this time more deeply than before because he didn't have to bend over to make contact with those petal-soft lips.

Oh, were they soft, like the sweetest flower petals as he caressed them with his own lips, which he doubted were anywhere near as soft, and they tasted faintly like cherry lip gloss…

Sayori wrapped her legs around his waist, taking some of her slight weight off his arms, and her own arms wrapped around his neck, the fingers of one hand running through his hair as she took the initiative to deepen the kiss instead of waiting for him to do it. Fireworks went off behind his eyelids at that action, and he couldn't remember when he had closed his eyes. Quite frankly, he didn't even care as he moved one hand up to run his fingers through Sayori's brown hair, likening the strands to silk as they slid through his long fingers like water.

Eventually, and regretfully, they had to come up for air, and while Kain was still dazed from the unexpected passion, Sayori released his neck and waist from her embrace and slipped from his grasp.

The brunette was breathing heavily, but she managed to straighten her skirt and jacket, which were looking rather rumpled, to some semblance of order. Her lips were red and swollen from his kisses, which caused Kain to feel a rather strong sense of pride that he was the cause of that redness.

Suddenly, he heard voices approaching the pool (he distantly realized that it sounded like Ruka and Hanabusa arguing. Again.), and judging by the way the glazed look in Sayori's eyes disappeared rather quickly (he tried hard not to let his disappointment show) she heard them coming, too.

Before he even had time to open his mouth, Sayori had disappeared through the shrubs as quickly as she had appeared, leaving the plastic bag containing his stolen clothes behind.

Kain picked up the bag, looking inside to be sure that they were actually his clothes, not that he had any doubt, and turned to head back to the Moon Dorm to drop them off in his room before returning to his remaining classes for the night.

A glance at his watch revealed that the entire interaction had taken just a few minutes less than an hour. He determined that their next meeting would take a lot longer if he had anything to say about it.

Three days later, he opened his closet door to find that his favorite shirt was missing again, and he smiled.

_Author's Note: Happy Birthday to me! I had started writing this a few days ago, but when I realized what day it was I just had to finish it. *Grins* This is my first time writing a scene that was even vaguely romantic, so please tell me what you all thought of it! Please read and review! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	2. Sayori's POV

Sayori Wakaba couldn't believe she had actually gotten up the courage to do that.

She slumped back against the door to her room, listening to it click closed as she did so, and she felt completely drained as she stumbled over to her bed and collapsed onto the soft blankets, burying her face in her pillow. She supposed that she should be grateful that Yuki wasn't back from her patrol yet, she thought as she turned her face to the side.

In fact, she should probably be grateful that no one had seen her walking around after curfew, and especially thankful that no one knew that she had been meeting someone…A bright red hue spread across her cheeks as she blushed, remembering the outcome of the 'meeting'.

Her lips tingled in remembrance of the ensuing kisses, and she unconsciously raised one hand to brush across her lips.

The feeling of Akatsuki Kain's lips was burned into her mind, a sensation that she would never forget. The feeling of the Night Class student's rough but somehow soft lips lingered, causing her blush to deepen at the memory. They had felt so perfect against her own, and Kain's kiss had practically seared her and caused her entire body to heat up.

She recalled that he had tasted like spicy cinnamon and fire, an odd combination that had left her wanting more. In hindsight, it was a good thing that the other two students she had heard coming had come by when they did, or who knew where that last kiss might have led?

A strange feeling of pride welled up inside her as she remembered the glazed look in Kain's eyes and the way his hair seemed messier than usual, a sign that he had enjoyed their kisses as much as she had and the result of her running her fingers through his hair. Her fingertips tingled as she imagined the fiery-colored strands that had slid so easily through her combing digits.

It was obvious that Kain took excellent care of his hair.

Sayori flushed as she hugged her pillow against her chest, curling up on her side as she tried to calm her racing heart, which was by no means an easy task. All she had to do was recall the moment when hers and Kain's lips had first touched and the traitorous organ sped up again.

A few strands of her light brown hair escaped from behind her ear to fall forward and tickle her cheek, drawing a soft sigh from her as she used one hand to push the errant strands back behind her ear.

Her heart gradually began to slow as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and set about changing into her pajamas, since the last thing she wanted was for Yuki to suspect that she had been doing anything besides sleeping while the prefect had been patrolling.

Having something to do helped her to clear her head, and she had her pounding heart under control by the time she turned out the bathroom light after she finished brushing her teeth.

Sayori quietly slipped beneath the cool sheets, blinking to help her eyes adjust to the darkened room, lit only by the faint moonlight filtering through the windows. As she lay in bed, the full realization of what she had done that night, not to mention every night for the past several weeks, came crashing down on her.

A shiver ran down her spine.

The rules she had – repeatedly - broken were grounds for her to get expelled, and she felt a strong wave of relief that she had avoided getting found out. The thought that Kain would report her to the Chairman never even crossed her mind, and she didn't even question why.

Another blush heated her face at the thought of the tall Night Class student. She felt strangely pleased at the thought that he had enjoyed their kiss as much as she had, if the glazed look in his eyes had been any indication, and a smile graced her lips before she shook her head minutely to clear it, reminding herself that that had been a one-time thing…and she realized that she didn't want it to be.

The brunette remembered the first time she had seen Akatsuki Kain.

It had been at the Night Class crossover a month before, the one time she had decided to go, simply to provide moral support for Yuki. The prefect had almost been trampled several times a few days before, and had been hesitant to go to the gates of the Moon Dorm alone like she had been doing because Zero was consistently late at least sixty percent of the time.

Sayori had mostly stayed back, away from the crowds, in the shade of a tree and watched as Yuki held back a group of squealing fan-girls, all of whom seemed to be screaming 'Idol! Idol!' and one of the first Night Class students out of the gate made a shooting motion with one hand while winking. Hanabusa Aido, the playboy of the Night Class, and a grade-A show-off if she'd ever seen one.

She had frowned at the blonde's childish behavior, but then her breath had caught when she saw the man walking just behind Aido.

Akatsuki Kain couldn't have been more opposite his cousin if he had tried, from the bored expression on his face to the earring in his left ear to his open jacket and partially buttoned shirt, and yet _he_ was the one that she couldn't look away from. If anything, she would compare what had happened next to experiencing tunnel-vision, as everything except for Kain (nicknamed 'Wild' by the Day Class girls if the screams were to be believed) seemed to fade into the background.

Unlike Aido, Kain had made no move to wave, smile, or even acknowledge the crowd of girls surrounding him, and somehow that just made him stand out all the more to her. Instead, the fiery-haired student had frowned at his cousin and said something to the enthusiastic blond that made Aido stop and actually seem to think about something. Her respect for Kain had gone up a few notches for managing to pull that off, since as Yuki told her, getting Hanabusa Aido to stop talking was no easy task once he really got started.

Kain had reached up a hand to scratch his head, the other hand staying tucked into his pocket, and if anything seemed to grow even more bored than usual as he walked beside Ruka Souen (she vaguely remembered that the class representative had a crush on her), and as a result his shirt opened even more, exposing parts of his chest and stomach. She, like a great amount of the fan-girls, couldn't take her eyes away, even when Kain lowered his hand and his shirt more-or-less fell closed.

The rest of the crossover proceeded like usual, with the exception that Yuki didn't get almost trampled, by virtue of Zero actually arriving on time to help.

Her eyes had stayed glued to Kain until she had no longer been able to see him, and even then she was rather dazed as she went back to her dorm room, only half listening to Yuki as the prefect thanked her for coming, even though she hated the Night Class crossover.

After that, Akatsuki Kain had been on her mind, and she frequently caught herself thinking of him in class – often to the point that she feared her grades would start dropping. She didn't think about him in the way that his fan-girls probably did, no, she just wondered about small details about him, like what his favorite color was or what his favorite food was…

Several days later and she couldn't take thinking about him anymore. It was going to drive her insane if she didn't do something!

And so, Sayori had come up with a plan. It wasn't a plan she had come by lightly, but after some serious thought (which she had done after Yuki had gone out on patrol) she had come to the conclusion that the only way to stop thinking about the tall Night Class student was to get him out of her system in one fell swoop.

It had involved her eavesdropping on several conversations between various fan-girls, but the effort proved worth it as she got a rough mental map of the Moon Dorm's security, and thus she had a good idea about how she could get inside while remaining undetected. Her courage had almost deserted her when she decided to actually carry out her plan, though thankfully she had managed to convince herself that it was too late to turn back and thus that she had to continue.

She had planned everything carefully, making use of the trees that grew next to the wall around the Moon Dormitory to help her to climb down to the other side of the wall, the entire climb taking fifteen – twenty minutes at the most, or maybe longer as she had to listen carefully to make sure that she hadn't misjudged Yuki's and Zero's patrol schedules.

After that, she had slipped inside the dorm itself, not allowing herself time to stop and admire how much fancier it was compared to the Day Class Dormitory. Since all of the Night Class was in class, there was no need to for her to waste time sneaking around and so she started looking for Kain's room immediately. She didn't really know how she would be able to tell which room was his, but she figured there would be _some_ way to tell, like a picture or something on a nightstand.

She had then searched five rooms, respectfully only looking inside the door instead of entering the rooms themselves, but hadn't had any luck (though she had to wonder about the one with a book shelf full of manga and the single pair of boxers on the floor…) in finding Kain's room.

However, when she opened the sixth door she struck pay-dirt.

The first thing Sayori noticed when she opened the door was the row of pictures neatly lined up on the dresser across from the bed, the majority of them featuring a young boy that she immediately recognized as a younger Akatsuki Kain in some way, along with two other children.

Curious, she slowly walked over to the dresser, her eyes scanning the images inside the frames, a slight smile on her lips as she looked over them.

The first picture was of a young, around seven years-old she thought, Akatsuki standing slightly behind Hanabusa Aido and Ruka Souen, both of whom looked to be a year or two younger than the red head in the picture. The young Aido and Ruka were standing with their arms crossed and their heads turned away from each other, so it was obvious that the picture had been taken just after they'd had a fight. The Akatsuki in the picture had his hands held up pleadingly, and a hesitant look on his face as he seemed to be trying to get his cousin and friend to make up.

Ever the mediator, she thought as a soft look crossed her face and she moved to the second picture.

This one showed a slightly older Akatsuki standing between two adults, his parents judging by the similarities between the three of them. As she looked at the picture, she came to the realization that Akatsuki strongly resembled his father, considering that he had inherited the older man's height and reddish-orange hair color. She smiled at the family picture, a small, sincere expression that matched the one on the younger Kain's face.

She quietly stepped over to look at the third picture, this one looking to have been taken at some kind of party, and it featured a teenaged Akatsuki – around fourteen or fifteen she guessed – already well on his way to matching his father's height. Sayori stifled a giggle as she looked at the image of him, all loose, gangly limbs and wild hair, and there was an uncomfortable expression on his face, though it was hardly noticeable unless you looked closely. The expression was likely caused by the teenage girl – surprisingly not Ruka Souen - clinging to his arm and beaming up at him.

The Day Class student smiled again, feeling a warmly amused emotion welling up inside her, and she had to forcefully remind herself that she didn't have time to gawk at pictures, and that if she took too long the chance of her getting caught increased dramatically.

Sighing softly, she looked around the room, the walls of which were painted a warm cream color, and spotted three doors. The first door led to the spotlessly clean bathroom, the second into the room beside that room, and the third led into a spacious closet. She looked in the closet curiously, not allowing herself time to really take everything in, and then quietly shut the door and walked back over to the dresser.

Upon opening one of the drawers, she was greeted by the sight of neatly folded socks and undergarments, and she quickly reached in and grabbed a pair of socks. By the feel of them, the socks in question were a very soft cotton blend, and she admitted to herself that if his socks were any indication, Kain had very nice taste in clothing.

After that, Sayori had made sure there was no sign that she had ever been in the room and then snuck out of the Moon Dorm with her prize, thankfully without getting caught and with time to spare, thinking that now she could put the tall Night Class student out of her mind.

It was amazing how wrong she had been…

The entire day after her foray into the Moon Dorms, and she still couldn't stop thinking about Akatsuki, and her mind kept drifting back to the pair of socks that she had secreted in the very back of her dresser drawer. Her fingers had tingled from the memory of how those articles of clothing had felt in her hands, and it had been all she could do to pay attention in class, though even then it had been a close call when she almost hadn't heard the ending bell.

She hadn't even had time to think about it. After the Night Class had gone to their classes and Yuki and Zero had gone on patrol, Sayori had snuck back into the Moon Dormitory and gone straight to Akatsuki's room. She stole a shirt that time, a light blue button-up that she imagined Kain wore on school breaks, and then made tracks out of the Night Class dorm.

The next night it was another pair of socks, and so on for the next two weeks. It was almost like she couldn't help herself, and she was embarrassed to remember how she had fondled the material of one of the shirts she had taken, enjoying the feel of what was undoubtedly expensive silk that flowed like water and shimmered with color when the light hit it just right for almost fifteen minutes.

Sayori honestly didn't know how the idea had come into her head, but her conscience had finally spoken up and she knew that she had to return the clothing that she had stolen, only she didn't know how to go about it, since her chances of getting caught sneaking into the Moon Dorm would increase if she carried a bag full of clothes inside.

Finally, she decided to slip inside the dorms one last time, but to leave something instead of taking it. Honestly, she thought that she had had more trouble deciding what name to address her message to than actually writing the request that they meet.

And the rest, as the saying went, was history.

Now, however, as she lied in bed thinking, distant images of the kisses she and Kain had shared running through the back of her mind, she found herself wishing that she had at least kept a pair of his socks so she had an excuse to see him again or something to remember him by if nothing else…not that she thought that that was any chance that she would forget the tall, red-headed Night Class student.

Hearing Yuki's stumbling footsteps out in the hallway, Sayori hurriedly shut her eyes and evened out her breathing, a small seed of an idea taking root in her mind as she finally drifted off to sleep.

Three days of planning later, and she was sneaking into the Moon Dorm once again after the Night Class had departed and the school guardians had left to patrol the grounds.

Just so that Kain would notice right away, she stole the black silk shirt she had admired instead of a pair of socks, a smile on her face as she did so.

_Author's Note: Wow, my birthday fic was a bigger hit than I thought it would be! In fact, the great reviews I got inspired me to add this second chapter, set in Sayori's point of view, so I hope you all enjoyed it!_


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